The new TV commercial is directed by Yasmin Ahmad, the executive creative director of long-time incumbent Leo Burnett. Ahmad masterminded the oil giant’s first move into social responsibility-style advertising in 1994.
Timed with the Chinese New Year celebrations, the three-minute mini-film stars a Malaysian Chinese schoolboy with no home to go to. The film opens in a classroom, where pupils are asked to draw what a reunion dinner means to them - but the boy sits idle with nothing to draw. When school ends, the boy is finally picked up by a woman who escorts him back to an orphanage. ‘Please be home for reunion dinner, if you can. Gong Xi Fa Cai’, reads the endline. The Petronas logo appears in the end frame.
Scheduled to break on 4 February, the campaign is set to run for just one-and-a-half weeks on Malay, Indian and Chinese channels. It will also be viewable online for two weeks.
Print ads adapted from the TV spot will also run in Chinese and English-language newspapers The Star, New Straits Times, Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh.
Ahmad explained: “This film is a reminder of how important family is. In up-and-coming countries, as in post-war Japan, the family begins to disintegrate a little. There is a danger of this happening in Malaysia, too, and Petronas wanted to make its feeling known.”
Explaining the origins of the campaign, she noted: “Research showed us that big corporates had been suffering from big-cheque syndrome: having a picture in the papers holding up a large cheque for a charity.
“Unlike many multinational oil companies, Petronas has been very respectful of local culture and gives back in a gentlemanly manner. It is concerned about society, but not in a Hollywood way.
“It wanted us to create commercials that encourage good social values and enrich people.”
Burnett’s Petronas advertising traditionally coincides with festive occasions in Malaysia, appearing at Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and Deepavali.
Ahmad added: “Just selling products can pull a company through for a while. But after a time, people will start to wonder what a brand stands for. Not what it is, but who it is. What kind of person he or she is. Petronas used to be perceived as a cold, socially-unconcerned company. But it has become a national hero.”
Meanwhile, Burnett’s work for Petronas in promoting family values has attracted an approach from the Singapore Government. The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports has briefed the agency to create a short film amid fears that family values among Singaporeans are eroding.
The four-minute film will run mid-February.
